The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-03-04
eulLp,No our SHIPS

Home Rather Than By Bayfng In . Cheal
| One Abroad.
A free-trade contemporary requests
the Inter Oceun Ia inform it to what
the decay of the American mercantile
marine is due. if not to free trade:
To many things Largely. perhaps
mostly, to the substitution Of iron fol
wood in the construction of ocean-go-
ing vessels. We could build wooden
| vessels as cheaply as England. and we
couldn't build iron ones as cheaply.
nor can we yet. though If our free
trade agitators can be foiled in their
designs we shall be able to build them
as cheaply after awhile. For protec-
ton is increasing the steel and iron
factories of America very rapidly. and
is therefore lowering the price oa
American steel and iron very rapidly.
When we can produce iron and steel
as cheaply or nearly as cheaply as En-
gland then re will hustle her very
closely in race for ocean trade.
But our free-trade contemporary
says: Admitting that England's re-
sources in iron were great advantage
to her mercantile marine, it is fact
that we had the privilege of using this
cheap iron if we desired to do so.''
Truly we could. This" meaning
English ..cheap iron." would have cost
certain dollars. which would have slim
ulated English manufacture of more
iron and steel. and have left less money
to spend on American iron and steel.
and would consequently have delayed
the approach of the time when Ameri-
can iron and steel shall be rs cheap as
English.
We are aware that our free-trade
contemporary takes 1.-The wide" view
of aifairs-wide is a word not
SYNONYMOUS with wisc-which holds
that dollar is just dollar. and that
markets are worldwide. and whether
the dollar paid for labor on iron or
steel is paid to an English or an Ameri-
can laborer. the universal equation
regulates its benefit to England and
America correlatively. This is an in
genious speculation; it is fully as in
teresting and quite as useful as the
elder one. which inquired as to how
many angels could dance on the point
of needle. A great many volumes of
very wide thinking have been written
on both topics.
But we just draw the attention of
our esteemed contemporary to the fact
that the English free traders - the
practical ones we mean. not the fell
lows who write books-don't care a
cent about "the wide view of the
case, and are altogether uninterested
in the operation Of the universal equa-
ton. They are after the application of
the universal money to purely local
benefit. in the spirit Of " the most
narrow and ignorant protectionist.
In fact England's free trade aims at
protection to English industries that
are not yet matured into strength to
cope with her. 1.-The wide" view of
American free traders has not en-
abled them to discern that tariffs arc
not principles, but policies. But to
return to the English free traders;
this is All English comment on some
recent transactions in iron.
In the iron and steel trades two intercstin;
transactions have taken place lately to indi-
cate the magnitude of this hew competition.
Krupp has captured IN order for 5000 tons of
.la sar tofsn NJ Nfath ,rh; Ia
number OF German wire makers have taken an
order for ss.DD tons OF cable wire Cor o tele-
graph construction company in London. These
sales owe: which English iron masters nat
urally do not feel happy. while the Germans are
correspondingly iub;lart.
Germany. while free-trade nation.
bought steel. iron and ships from En-
gland. BY protection she has come to
sell all these things to England. The
4" English iron masters naturally do
not feel happy" English free-traders
do not fa,ten on "widc views" The
growth of our own iron industry in
dictates the approach of 4 time when
we, too, shall be able to sell ships to
England. And English "iron masters
naturally do not feel happy" in con-
templating it.
Relative To the prospective increase
in the American demand for steel
blooms. the London Iron SAYS:
Naturally. at equivalent prices. representing
the difference in the amount of work put upon
the finished article 10 that put upon the bloom.
manufacturers on this side would prefer to sell
rails rather than blooms, because the former
,r;f, % 90
among their work people, anil they might even
deem II polite, in order to afford more work for
the hands dependent on them for the means OF
livelihood, to seI rails 1T less than the CORE
spending price. This is only one reason the
more why il may be considered probable that
the price of blooms can not advance very much
further unless there is an advance also in the
value of steel rails.
That is to say. England will sell rails
n: "a less corresponding price than
blooms. The amount of labor expend-
ed on rails is really greater than on
blooms. The objective point is the af-
foriing employment to English labor
IT the expense Of American labor.
Here is the case in nutshell. Pro-
tectionists prefer to encourage Ameri-
can labor even 1t 4 temporary sacrifice.
Free traders prefer to buy in nomi-
nally cheap market. forgetful that low
prices are comparative. The wooden
ship is a thing of the past. The iron
ship is better built for America at II
comparatively higher cost from Ameri-
can iron and by American workmen
than at Il comparatively low cost from
English iron and by English labor. pro-
vis!ed that the comparatively high cost
aids in the development of American
industry, while the. low COS; aids in the
production of English industry.-Cai-